to dig slightly to the north, hoping thus to
expose the exterior of the building.
Find it we did. Its facade of carefully hewn
stones indicated an important edifice, possibly
a palace. At the same time I noted that the
upper walls had collapsed into a jumbled
mass. Over the whole of the ruin, like a pale
shroud, lay a thick layer of white volcanic
ash. But beneath the fallen stones we could
find not the least trace of it. My instant con
clusion: A strong earthquake destroyed the
building; thereafter a shower of tephra from
the exploding volcano buried it.
We had, in fact, made a most interesting
discovery. Geologists had long maintained
that eruptions of Thera-Krakatoa type vol
canoes are never accompanied by earth
quakes. Convincing evidence to the contrary
lay before our eyes.
That first year produced other discoveries
-fine
pottery, plastered walls, storerooms
720
with large storage jars still in place (page
716). But above all we had finally found a
Minoan city on Thera that had been destroyed
by the eruption.
During the next two years we enlarged
the scope of our excavations; our labors were
frequently rewarded with important finds.
For the sake of our work, as well as for our
personal comfort, we also made improve
ments in our surroundings. We brought in
electricity, built habitations, storerooms, and
laboratories. We diverted a stream bed that
coursed with water during the rainy season;
unhappily, it had previously flowed through
the center of our ravine and had eroded some
of the ruins underneath.
Akrotiri was the poorest and most remote
village of Thera, and the inhabitants-hoping
for an influx of visitors-enthusiastically
supported our endeavors. But when I offered
to link the village by road with the rest of the